Little Change Seen in Hate Crimes Against Asians

A group that tracks hate crimes against Asians found that the number of incidents increased by 17% nationwide, but dropped somewhat in Southern California. In Orange County, the number remained low and stable.

The report by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, to be presented to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno today, cites two Orange County incidents as examples of the growing hostility Asians faced nationwide in 1996.

Included are the defacing of Garden Grove Councilman Ho Chung’s reelection campaign sign with a swastika and the threatening telephone message left for Brian Chiu, a UC Irvine graduate student who worked against Proposition 209.

Last year the group found that hate crimes against Asians rose by 80% in Southern California, but this year it did not specify the number by which incidents had decreased. And Michelle Cheng of the Legal Center said the actual numbers aren’t important. The problem, she said, is the lack of “a systemwide or systematic way of reporting these cases.”

In Orange County, Asians are rarely the target of hate crimes.

According to the Orange County Human Relations Commission, African Americans and Jews are most often the targets, and the number of incidents against them has risen steadily over the years.

Of 183 hate crimes reported locally last year, 53 of the victims were African American, 31 Jewish, 22 Latino and 19 Asian.

This year, hate crimes against Asians dipped slightly to 17.

Chung said that the defacing of his campaign sign angered him more than any other racial incident that occurred when he has run for office. During his 1992 campaign, he said he received phone calls telling him to “Go home” [to Korea] but paid them little attention.

In 1996, when someone drew an “A” with a slash through it on a campaign sign, he simply pulled it down. But the swastika hit a nerve.

“That symbol upset me emotionally so much,” Chung said. “Everybody knows about the swastika--it’s really to attack another race. Hitler used the swastika to attack the Jews.”

Asians, Chung said, are targets of hate crimes because racists consider them to be foreigners because of their appearance.”

“Your appearance is not like the Western Europeans,” Chung said, “So that’s why we’re very subject to becoming a target.”

But Bill Wood, president of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, said he doubts hate groups and racists focus on a particular minority.

“I think a lot of skinheads and various racist groups focus on anyone that’s [not] white,” Wood said. “Usually it’s done in a cowardly manner; they paint swastikas on someone’s home or on the synagogue or put fliers in lockers--whatever might invoke fear.”

Chung said the swastika was meant to discourage him from seeking office, but he counted on good relations with people of all races to get reelected.

“Asians supported me, but that’s not enough to get elected here, so that means lot of other people had to vote for me,” Chung said. “I got elected, so there are a lot of people who accept Asians as part of their community, and that’s a good sign.”